Lachlan Morton was lining up for his second year at the Garmin Unbound Gravel presented by Craft, looking for that all-important combination of ‘no bad luck and good legs’ that could potentially deliver victory.
In the end the EF Education-EasyPost rider got both, fell short of the top step of the podium, but third place and the satisfaction of a good day of racing left the Australian anything but disappointed.
“I'm here to race, yeah, but I was just stoked to have a nice day out there. You know, it was a really good group of guys. Good, fair race," said Morton, who crashed out of the race last year and finished 14th overall in the season-long Life Time Grand Prix Series.
“I've had quite a bit of just annoying luck this last year when it comes to this Series, so it was nice to see that I had the legs when things do go the right way. It was reassuring for me.”
A group including Keegan Swenson and Russell Finsterwald were off the front of the race early, at 20 miles into the 200 mile event (322km), after a stretch of ‘peanut butter mud’ shattered the field early. Morton helped drive the pace behind in the first chase group, ultimately catching the lead group.
He headed to the line among a select group of seven riders including Swenson, Finsterwald, Peter Stetina, Petr Vakoc, Laurens Ten Dam and Ian Boswell.
Morton tried to get the jump on his break companions by launching at 1.5 miles to go.
“I looked at the finish yesterday and I realised that the hill near the university was an obvious place for an attack, on the downhill,” said Morton. “It’s a little bit tricky. I was hoping to come faster, but Keegan passed us.”
Swenson took first and Vakoc second in a sprint, with Morton next through the line after the narrow run to the finish, which was also populated with amatuer riders from the 100 mile event.
That prompted some discussion after the race over whether a pro only finish, or wider run to the line would lead to a cleaner finish for the professionals.
“Probably, but realistically you are also catering to people who are out having a good day on a bike, catering to amateurs,” said Morton. “There are a lot of things you could do to make it a professional race, yes, but then you can go do UCI Gravel Worlds.
“This race is very special and maybe involves some things that are an inconvenience, other than just going as fast as possible,” said Morton, adding that he liked keeping Unbound a special experience for the masses, so as far as he was concerned the finishing chute didn’t need to be widened to accommodate the professionals.
